MIDDLE EAST: Strolling or jogging along Beirut's scenic Mediterranean seafront corniche is a popular pastime with locals of all ages, writes Nuala Haughey in Beirut
But yesterday, as the country shut down for three days of official mourning for the assassinated former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Beirutis drifted off the coastal road to mill around a new macabre attraction.
They gawped at the scale of damage at the site outside the semi-derelict St George's Hotel, where the charismatic leader and at least 13 others were killed yesterday when a massive bomb destroyed his armoured convoy.
Before the stunned onlookers was a scene of carnage which could only have inspired flashbacks to the country's 1975-1990 civil war: burned-out carcasses of cars, twisted metal and rubble strewn across the road and a huge 30-foot crater caused by the blast.
As explosives experts combed the site for clues about the attack, still unclear whether it was a car bomb or an underground explosion, the political reverberations from the killing of the billionaire politician, a man who dominated Lebanese politics since the end of the war, continued to be felt.
His assassination has raised fears that the country might once more be destabilised both politically and economically or be plunged back into an era of violence before it has even properly recovered from the last one.
Lebanon's opposition parties hold their government and the power behind it - neighbouring Syria - responsible for the killing of Mr Hariri, who was one of the main architects of the country's post-war reconstruction. Damascus has vigorously denied the charge.
The conviction is certainly one shared by many Lebanese. An angry mob yesterday attacked Syrian workers in Mr Hariri's native town of Sidon in southern Lebanon, while another group threw stones at a Syrian government office in Beirut.
Responsibility claims by previously unknown Islamic militants were not considered credible, with Justice Minister Mr Adnan Addoum warning they could be an attempt "to mislead the investigation".
Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh suggested that, based on the 30-foot crater in the middle of the road and preliminary reports, the attack may have been carried out by a suicide bomber who rammed Mr Hariri's motorcade with a vehicle laden with explosives.
Although most suspicion has fallen on Syria or its supporters in Lebanon, it was clear the possibilities also might include rogue Syrian intelligence operatives, or even factions among the country's myriad religious groups.
Syria has 14,000 troops in Lebanon as well as intelligence agents, and has effectively decided policy in the country since its troops helped end the civil war.
Mr Hariri, a pragmatist, had largely tolerated the Syrian presence during his tenure as prime minister for 10 of the past 15 years.
But recently he had increasingly supported the view that Syrian influence in Lebanon should be reduced, if not ended.
He stood down last October after Syria, in a blatant bid to maintain its grip on the country, intervened to arbitrarily extend the term in office of the Lebanese President, Gen Emile Lahoud. Gen Lahoud was a Syrian loyalist and Mr Hariri's enemy.
"We think the Syrians made the bomb for Rafiq Hariri. He wanted Syria to leave Lebanon," said Mr Mohammed Turki (22), who was demonstrating outside Mr Hariri's Beirut mansion chanting anti-Syria slogans.
Mr Hariri was a figure for national unity, he added, "and for this reason they took him from us.
"They want a dog or a cat only, who will do what they want."
In the post-September 11th world, Syria has found itself under intense pressure from the US, whose war on terror includes the goal of regime change and democratisation in the Middle East.
Last September, around the same time Gen Lahoud was extending his term in office, the UN General Assembly and Security Council passed a resolution calling on all foreign troops to leave Lebanon, a measure clearly aimed at the Syrian troops stationed in the country.
Syria was specifically cautioned in recent weeks by the US and France not to interfere in Lebanon's elections.
Mr Hariri's assassination has only intensified the pressure on Syria to quit the country, with the UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan saying yesterday he hoped there would be clear signs of a withdrawal of Syrian troops within the next two months.